Blue Angels pilot’s body flown home

SMYRNA, Tenn. (AP) – The body of an elite fighter jet pilot who was killed in a crash near Nashville Thursday has been flown home.

The Tennessean reports that a Navy C-130 “Fat Albert” plane flew out of Smyrna Saturday morning with the body of Capt. Jeff Kuss. People braved the rain, some carrying American flags, others wiping tears away as a police procession guided a white hearse from Murfreesboro to the Smyrna Airport, which are just southeast of Nashville.

Kuss, 32, was a member of the Blue Angels, an elite fighter jet performance team, and a married father of two. He was practicing for an air show when his F/A-18 jet crashed just after takeoff.

The incident took place on the same day that a member of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, another elite jet performance team, crashed in Colorado after a flyover for the Air Force Academy graduation where President Barack Obama spoke. That pilot was able to eject safely.